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History of First Baptist Church a

Founded after the harvest season of 1821 by 23 people in Danby, New York, the church
moved a few miles north to Ithaca in 1826. The first home for the First Baptist Church in
Ithaca was built in 1831, with a young Ezra Cornell serving as one of the carpenters. Upon
the building's destruction by fire in 1854, a second structure was built and used until the
growing community required a larger building. The present structure was completed in 1890,
with financial assistance from John D. Rockefeller. Its architect was William Henry Miller,
who designed a number of major buildings on the Cornell campus and in downtown Ithaca.
Now widely recognized as an example of Romanesque architecture, the building has been
called the "Jewel of DeWitt park." In 1971 it was designated a historic landmark by the
Landmarks Preservation Commission of the City of Ithaca. It is also listed on the NYS and
national Registers of Historic Landmarks. During the early 1970s the congregation explored
ways to create a better, more workable church space, included selling the building and
moving, demolishing and rebuilding on site, or renovating the interior. The congregation
voted to renovate the interior of the building February 1, 1976. St. John’s Episcopal Church
shared their chapel and office space with First Baptist for 9 months, until basic work was
completed, which included an open and inclusive remodel of the Sanctuary. Worship
resumed in the First Baptist Church building for Easter, 1978.

From its beginnings, First Baptist has been involved in strategic ministries. In the late
nineteenth century, our church became a center for the women's suffrage movement in
upstate New York: in 1902 meeting of the Tompkins County Suffrage Association took place
in the church parlor, and in 1914 a mass meeting of suffragettes from nine counties met at
the church. First Baptist was willing to take real risks because it saw the marginalizing of
women as a biblical justice issue.

The church was willing to stand up and be counted during the civil rights turmoil of the
1950's and 1960's, and First Baptist met with Calvary Baptist of Ithaca to affirm the message
of Martin Luther King. The church protested the Vietnam War in the late 1960's and 1970's.
The first Planned Parenthood office and clinic in Ithaca were housed in First Baptist during
the 1970's. The pastor was a board member, and a congregation member supervised the
clinic and helped start the education program. Before Roe vs. Wade, the pastor was part of
a clergy service to assist women in locating a safe abortion. In the 1980's, the church joined
with the Quakers as leaders of the "sanctuary" movement in the Ithaca area, calling "upon
the U.S. government to acknowledge the right of Salvadoran and Guatemalan refugees to
political asylum." First Baptist declared its opposition to the deportation of "refugees
as long as persecution, torture, and murder of civilians continued." The church has
continued its active support of refugees to the present. It has helped refugees to
resettle in Ithaca from Vietnam, Haiti, Romania, Cambodia, Kosovo, Belarus, and
other countries.

For decades First Baptist has been a champion of inclusiveness. It has long been a home to
people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered. In 1997, as a result of the current
move by some within the American Baptist Churches of the USA to disfellowship welcoming
and affirming churches, First Baptist became a member of the Association of Welcoming
and Affirming Baptists. The immediate past executive director of AWAB sought out First
Baptist as the sponsoring congregation for her ordination. In 2007 the church joined the
Tompkins County Workers' Center to assist in the campaign for a living wage for all workers.
The pastor worked with Ithaca College students to get a living wage for food service
employees at the college; he also addressed the needs of migrant farm workers. First
Baptist is a living wage employer, and in Ithaca there are 106 certified living wage
businesses with over 3119 workers (2016). In 2105 the church sponsored a trip where 12 of
us, 7 adults and 5 youth, went to Guatemala to assist and learn about people's lives there.

Our congregation identifies all members of the church as ministers, and some young people
upon leaving Ithaca have decided to attend seminary and pursue ministerial careers. (The
church has ordained five ministers in the past 25 years.) Our membership includes an
unusually large number of retired ministers, and ordained ministers doing non-pastoral work,
from both the ABC and other denominations. Over the years the church has had links to the
international community through the presence of foreign students, members who have lived
abroad during sabbatical and/or study leaves, and missionaries taking courses at local
colleges while on furlough. Students and others here for a few years keep in touch; a few
return to Ithaca to rejoin us. A significant number of members after leaving Ithaca maintain
contact, sending appreciative notes for receiving our newsletter, The Visitor, some
continuing to provide financial support, visiting us when in the area, and expressing the wish
that “they could find another church like First Baptist!”